From what i have seen over the years this is an industry standard practice. Don't assume the employees about to be sacked are in the know.

Sometimes this is hidden under the guise of big IT modernization projects. The company transitions or consolidates towards ERP platform X. It is a huge operation that touches almost every part of the business. Armies of analysts are brought in to map the AS-IS business operations, the system is developed, once stable enough, the other shoe drops and the whole IT department is now moved off- or near shore to the company that transitioned the system while other 'non-strategic' parts of the business are 'streamlined' into managed service contracts with other parties in the project consortium.

Disney did this same thing: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-disne...

Heard firsthand from employees in the pharma industry that were forced to train their replacements that would do the work in India (quality control of medical devices). If they didn't comply they would get fired immediately and not get a special severance package... most of them did comply and trained their replacements because the job market was bad.

> I'd organize and have everyone quit; let them figure things out.

Be careful here... due to "freedom to choose" legislation targeting unions, it may be illegal for you to "organize labor" in your state...

Their severance pay was probably on the line...too sad